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Friday, March 21, 2014

The Devils didn’t make it easy on themselves, but, in the end, they got the result they desperately needed.

After blowing a two-goal lead in the third period, the Devils got it with defenseman Andy Greene scoring 2:00 into overtime to give them a 4-3 victory over Zach Parise and the Minnesota Wild.

“The fans paid a lot of money for the tickets, so we’ve got to make them excited,” right wing Jaromir Jagr joked.

The victory snapped the Devils’ three-game losing streak and kept them five points out of playoff spot with only 12 games remaining.

“Game 7 is always important,” Jagr said more seriously. “We’ve got 12 left, Game 7s. We have to win all of them to get in the playoffs. So, the first one is behind us and we’ve got 12 to go.”

That’s the approach the Devils need to take now. They didn’t’ get any help tonight with Columbus and Detroit winning.

Devils coach Pete DeBoer admitted “it feels like” the Devils need to win 12 more Game 7s if they are going to get into the playoffs.

“But we also feel confident in our game,” DeBoer said. “I liked how we played tonight. As long as we can stay fresh and energized and bring that game, there’s no reason we can’t keep winning.”

The Devils led 2—0 and 3-1, but could not finish off the Wild, who scored three times in the third period to force overtime. The Devils were able to pull out their ninth overtime win of the season, though when Greene fired the rebound of an Adam Henrique deflection past goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov from the left circle.

Patrik Elias, who had three assists tonight, did a lot of the work to set it up. After taking a pass from Greene deep in the Devils’ zone, he cut from left to right while carrying the puck through the neutral zone and over the Wild’s blue line and then went wide around defenseman Clayton Stoner in the right circle before throwing a backhand in front that Henrique deflected on net.

Bryzgalov made a pad save, but Greene was in the right spot to put home the rebound.

“I came up to support the rush and I was going to go in there to wait it out and see what happens and then get off and the puck squirted through their back door and I got a good look at it, obviously, and had pretty much the whole net,” Greene said.

It was Greene’s second overtime-winner of the season.

“He does it all for us,” DeBoer said. “He’s our shutdown guy. He helps us offensively, so smart, always in the right place. He’s an invaluable player for us.”

Five of the Devils’ nine overtime goals have been scored by defensemen – one each for Marek Zidlicy, Jon Merrill and Eric Gelinas and two by Greene.

“We’ve asked our D all year to help with the offense for us and I think we have a little more urgency in overtime as a group just because of our shootout record (0-8),” DeBoer said. “I don’t think there’s any secret about that. So, you get a little more aggressive.”

***Henrique and Ryane Clowe set the tone early with some big hits and the Devils kept the Wild on their heels for much of the opening period.

“The game plan was to try to be physical on their D, especially (Ryan) Suter, and be tough to play against in front of the net,” center Travis Zajac said. “And our D and (goaltender Cory Schneider) did a good job of not giving up too many second chances. We played a pretty good game.”

Right wing Michael Ryder ended his 23-game goal drought and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead with 3:02 left in the first. Elias, who had three assists, fed Ryder between the circles for a wrist shot over Bryzgalov’s blocker for his 17th goal of the season.

Ryder hadn’t scored since Jan. 11 against Florida.

“It gets to you after a while, but I just wanted to make sure I kept shooting the puck and trying to do all those good things,” Ryder said. “When that one went in, I was like, ‘So that’s what it feels like to score a goal.’”

DeBoer said Ryder wasn’t the only one who let out a sight of relief when he scored.

“Ryder and all the coaches and the whole bench,” DeBoer said. “It’s been a while and he’s a streaky guy, so, hopefully he’s off and running now.”

Defenseman Mark Fayne made it 2-0 by scoring shorthanded 9:35 into the second period. Henrique and Elias came up ice on a 2-on-2 shorthanded rush and Henrique drew four Wild players to him along the left wing boards and found Fayne wide open at the right point.

Fayne had plenty of time to walk into the right circle before firing a wrist shot past Bryzgalov on the far side for his fourth goal of the season.

“I just tried to put it high blocker side,” Fayne said. “I didn’t get it as high as I wanted, but it happened to go in.”

***Things didn’t go that well for the Devils in the third period, though.

Parise (booed throughout in his first game back at Prudential Center since leaving the Devils as UFA) was credited with the power-play deflection that cut the Devils’ lead 2-1 just 21 seconds into the third. Jagr put the Devils’ back up by two with his power-play one-timer from the left circle at 3:34, but the Wild got back within one goal on Mikael Granlund’s goal with 9;24 left in regulation.

Granlund fired a shot from the bottom of the left circle that found an opening between goaltender Cory Schneider’s left hip and his catching glove.

“Unfortunately my glove was about a half inch off my hip and the puck found it,” said Schneider, who snapped a personal three-game losing streak. “That’s kind of what’s been happening lately for me unfortunately. I just need to be tighter on that one, but it seems like the puck’s finding that one inch of space and those are just falling in the net right now. So, I’ve got to do something about that.”

Then, the Devils were whistled for consecutive penalties. They killed off Dainius Zubrus’ holding penalty (against Matt Moulson) at 10:55, but could not survive Zajac’s high stick of Justin Fontaine at 13:26. (It did not appear as if Zajac’s stick made contact with Fontaine’s face, but hit him in the arms when he got them up. Zajac thought his stick hit something.)

During the resulting power play Matt Cooke drove to the net to deflect in Marco Scandella’s right point shot to tie it with 4:32 left in regulation.

Fortunately for the Devils, they were able to rebound and win it on Greene’s overtime goal.

“We can’t really afford to give any games away right now," Schneider said. "It was vitally important we win that game and get the two points and now worry about the next one. We hope it’s a turning point. I think we’ve said that a few times before this year, but it’s really got to be it now because there’s not much time left.”

“I really liked our game,” DeBoer said. “We didn’t have any passengers tonight. I thought our structure was very good. That’s how we need to play. I wish I didn’t take us until overtime. We didn’t help ourselves. We took a few penalties in the third period and late in the game that hurt us. But other than that we did a lot right tonight.”

***With his third period power-play goal, Jagr reached 60 points for the season (23 goals, 37 assists) for the 17th time in his career.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.